Maine Is Already Blazing Past 2020’s Record Year For Wildfires

I feel very fortunate to have an extremely large fire pit in my back yard. It came with the house when we bought it, and it's one of the few things the previous owners did right as far doing their own home improvement. It's built well, and contains decent sized fires quite nicely. But, as awesome as it is, we don't use it when we shouldn't.

If it's windy, or super dry, we do the responsible thing and keep it dark. Other folks have giant burn piles, or even still do the old fashioned method of burning the grass in the spring. When doing these things, it's even more important to monitor wind and dryness. Because believe it or not, well over 60% of Maine's wildfires start this way.

Officials call them "debris fires". Maybe it's that old brush pile, or even your own little small fire in the back yard while hoisting a few toddies. But so far this year, we are pacing well ahead of the amount of wildfires we had in 2020, and that was already a year for the record books, according to WABI - TV5.

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First and foremost, many folks already understand you need to get a permit to have a large fire in your yard anyway. What a permit doesn't do is absolve you of any responsibility. If that fire gets out of control, it's on you. But at least fire officials will know right where to go, and be fully aware that you plan to burn that day. And if you are going to burn, have a hose and plenty of help ready, just in case.

They also remind folks, just because you have a permit, doesn't mean you have to burn that day. You can get them right online, so if it's too windy or dry on the day you want to burn, don't. You can simply get a new one the next day. Just like Ma always used to say...an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, hahaha.

Besides, of all things we Mainers want to be known for setting the record, it's not setting fires. If you need a permit, you can usually get them right on your town's website. If you want to keep your eyes on the fire danger situation at any given moment, go to this link here, and keep up to date.